"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Apr 2017 17:17:40 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


I got as far as saving a nice maple sapling for the handle ...

Maple will be nice for a push tool, but forget it for prying tools.

The hardwoods in my back lot are maple and red oak. When I slabbed the
red oak logs square I salvaged whatever random sizes I could as
rectangular strips and thin planks which have been useful, but they
don't create the look of hand-forged iron.with a debarked sapling
handle.

Freeing the rocks in a post hole here requires serious iron like a
digging or San Angelo bar. One of my neighbors borrowed a Cat 316 from
work to clear and level a back yard and it was barely big enough.
-jsw